1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to generating a color profile, and more particularly relates to generating a color profile for a digital input device, wherein the color profile can be used to transform color values of an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional color management systems (CMSs) use color profiles of digital input devices to derive color transformations that transform color coordinates between a device-dependent color space that depends on the device, and a device-independent color space.
In particular, a color profile for a digital input device such as a camera or scanner can be generated by first imaging a color target (or “color checker”) consisting of pre-designated color patches. Typically, the color target is imaged under controlled lighting conditions, which can be achieved by placing the color target inside a light booth. In a device-dependent color space such as the RGB color space, this imaging typically results in an RGB bitmap image in which the color of each color patch is encoded in an RGB value. These RGB values are included in the color profile for the digital input device.
While this color profile can provide an adequate color transformation for images created under controlled lighting conditions, such a color transformation may not accurately transform images of real-world scenes having a wide luminance range.
Thus, it is desirable to generate color profiles which are likely to result in more calorimetrically accurate transformations of images created under real-world lighting conditions.